Watching Over Her
by Abbl2
Summary: Toph will always watch over her daughter; even in death.


**A/N: As you can probably guess, Lin and Toph are my favorite characters. They are just so strong, and so selfless and sarcastic . I was inspired to write this through a picture that I found online and then two songs that I listened to on YouTube. I'll post a link to the song, and I'll use the picture for my cover, so you can listen to the words, and have the picture in the back of your mind as you read. I own nothing. Oh, and Toph can see, since she's dead.**

Water splashed about her as she fell to her knees. The rain was a perfect setting for what was about to happen, but she was ready. She would always be ready to sacrifice herself for Tenzin and his family, not only because they were the last of the airbenders, but because Tenzin was her oldest and most trusted friend. She would die for him if need be. _"Whatever happens to me, don't turn back!"_ she remembered. No one was coming to rescue her.

In front of her she could see Amon, his cold, unfeeling mask covering up a cowards face leaving only his cruel eyes exposed. She longed for him to take off that mask so that she could see him, so that she could look at him and make him cringe as he did the unthinkable to her. She wanted to be able to spit in his eye.

"Tell me where the Avatar is, and I'll let you keep your bending," he said calmly, as if he was just making small talk instead of threatening her to tell him the whereabouts of the most powerful bender on earth.

"I won't tell you anything, you monster!" she shouted at him. Amon gave the tiniest nod, and she would swear that he was smirking under that mask.

"Very well," he said, and started to walk towards her. She gave no sign of fear. She would not let them know how scared she was. She closed her eyes and felt herself sink, one last time, into the earth, feeling the flow of her energy connecting her to the ground. It gave her strength.

She felt Amon's hand on her head as he tilted it back, and her eyes shot open as she felt an unfamiliar sensation come over her. She couldn't move. Suddenly, the flow of energy stopped. She could no longer feel that connection. Amon let go of her and she fell to the ground, but this time, she felt nothing as her cheek touched the surface; just cold, hard, wet ground. The connection was gone. Her bending was gone. _I'm sorry mother,_ she thought. _I failed._ A single tear fell down her cheek.

'_No my darling badgermole,' thought Toph watching from her daughters side. 'You were so brave today. I am so proud of you, my selfless girl. I love you, Lin.'_

Even though she couldn't move, Lin felt a strong, familiar presence beside her. She smelled a deep earthen fragrance that comforted her. '_Mom?'_ she thought.

'_Yes Lin,' Toph replied, although she knew her daughter couldn't hear her. 'I'm here, and so are Twinkletoes and Snoozles.'_ Lin began to recognize other presences. She could feel a cool breeze across her cheek. _Aang?_ She thought. She knew that the Avatar's spirit resided inside Korra, but she could have sworn that he was beside her. **(I don't know if he can actually leave her body unless Korra calls him, but bear with me)** And there was something else; Sokka? She couldn't quite place it, but it felt like the loving councilman was near. But that couldn't be right. All of these people, though loved, were gone. All the same, it gave her comfort to feel them.

'_We are all proud of you, Lin,' Sokka said. Aang nodded in agreement._

'_Thank you Lin, for protecting my family,' he said. 'I am forever in your debt.'_

'_I love you my badgermole,' Toph whispered, wiping a tear from her eye. 'If only I could have helped you.' The other two spirits nodded._

'_If only we all could,' Sokka said._

Lin felt two men grab under her arms, but she shoved them off.

"I may have lost my bending," she spat. "But I can still walk by myself. Don't touch me!" _Toph laughed._

'_That's my girl,' she chuckled. 'Strong as ever.'_

Lin stood up with a little bit of difficulty. She then turned around, looked Amon in the eye and spat. The saliva landed on his masks cheek. Amon slowly wiped it away as he watched her walk away, her head held high.

"I never said you were free to go," Amon said coldly. He gestured with his arm and two guards stepped in front of Lin. She stopped, but didn't turn around.

"You took my bending," she said. "What else do you want with me? I am no threat to you now."

_Toph shook her head sadly. 'You still have the strongest will in all of Republic City. If anyone can take out those bastards without her bending, it's you my little badgermole.'_

"Ah, but you are," Amon said. "You have the entire police force behind you that will attempt to wipe us out. A force without a leader is no force at all."

"As much as I am flattered," Lin mocked, "I am no longer chief of police. I resigned a few days ago." Amon shrugged.

"No matter," he said. "You are still an important leader of the bending community and must be withheld. Guards!" he shouted. "Arrest chief, well, Lin Bei Fong!" Amon's henchman stepped forward to grab her.

'_Not on my watch,' Toph, Lin, Aang and Sokka all thought at the same time._ Lin swooped underneath one of the the guards outstretched arms and kicked him in the back hard enough to send him sprawling. She sprinted as fast as she could towards the bay of Air temple Island. For a moment, everyone thought she was going to get away. That was, until, in a flash of light and a crack of lightning, she was brought down. Everyone looked around frantically to see where the lightning had come from, and saw the Lieutenant with his electrified sticks pointing at the fallen Lin.

"Well done, Lieutenant," Amon congratulated. Then, he pointed to two of the guards. "Collect her."

"Don't you dare touch her," came a high pitched voice from above them. The henchman and Amon all looked up to see a little girl in the trees. She was in a green tunic that looked like it came from the old earth kingdom. Her black hair was up in a bun secured with a headband, her bangs covered her face. Her feet were completely bare accept for green anklets. It was hard to tell from this light, but it looked very similar to the old chief, and Lin's mother. They'd never seen her in person, but there was a statue of the woman outside the police station. When she jumped down out of the trees, her bangs were blown out of her face, and there was no doubt about it; her faded eyes told it all.

As soon as her feet touched dirt, columns of earth rose underneath the first line of Amon's henchman including the Lieutenant and Amon himself. Several of the henchman were sent flying, but others swiftly and easily came back to the ground.

"Impossible," came Amon's breathless reply. Toph smirked.

"Has no one ever told you Amon?" she said. "Impossible is my middle name." And with that, she struck the ground. The stone beneath their feet turned into quicksand. The men struggled, but Toph solidified the stone as it moved up to their waist, leaving their arms free, but their legs stuck.

"Tsk, tsk, gentleman," she mocked. "You aren't supposed to struggle in quicksand. It looks like you're a little stuck." She smiled. "Don't you wish you had bending now?"

"But you're supposed to be dead!" Amon yelled.

"I suppose," Toph shrugged. "But I wasn't just going to stand back and watch you keep my daughter. So if you'll excuse me." She kicked mud in his face and took off towards where Lin was lying.

As soon as Lin got electrocuted, she collapsed, but managed to stay conscious. She heard fighting going on behind her, but it was like she was detached from her body, so she didn't recognize the threat. That was, until, she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Lin?" she heard a child's voice. She turned her face to see a little girl that looked incredibly familiar, her hair done up in a bun with her bangs covering her faded green eyes. "You need to get out of here my little badgermole," she said.

"Mom?" Lin whispered. The little girl nodded.

"Now get out of here Lin. Aang, Sokka and I will stall them. You need to get away." Just then, her form flickered, and she saw the mother she knew kneeling there beside her, her chief uniform on. Lin guessed that this was her form from her early to mid thirties. She felt the tears fall. Her mother helped her get up.

"How'd you?" Lin began.

"Twinkletoes. He went all avatar state and brought us out of the spirit world. I only wish he'd brought us out earlier, so that I could have helped you. I only have a few minutes, so I need to make it count." Toph wiped the tears from Lin's face. "No tears love." Suddenly, Toph found herself enwrapped in Lin's tight embrace. She hugged her back fiercely.

"I miss you, mom," Lin sobbed. Toph held her daughter tighter.

"I miss you to, Lin," she whispered. "And I'm so proud of you, my selfless girl." She gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead and let go.

"Now go!" she shouted. "Head for the boats!" Lin stepped back and nodded, wiping tears from her eyes. She turned on her heel and took off running. She got to the boat in less than a minute. She unwrapped the rope that tethered it to the post and got on. Just as the boat was starting, she looked back up and saw her mother watching her retreat. She had obviously regained her sight in death. The tears came back. Suddenly, she was joined by two other figures. One she recognized to be the councilman Sokka. The other one was Aang. They were both in their early to mid thirties just like her mother. She gazed longingly at the two father figures in her life and then back at her mother, who was smiling sadly.

Suddenly, there was a rumble behind them and all three of them turned to look. They obviously saw something, because they started pointing and shouting something that Lin couldn't make out. All three of them started running. Only Toph stopped. She turned back and gazed at her daughter. Lin stared back silently.

'_I love you Lin.' Thought Toph._

'_I love you mom.'_ thought Lin.

Toph turned around, her figure already fading, and shot rocks at some unseen target. She ran through the trees and was lost from sight. Lin stared at the spot where her mother had been, and then sank to the ground as sobs overtook her. The boat was already almost to the mainland. She knew she would make it, and it was all thanks to her mother. She wasn't sad about the loss of her bending anymore. She had seen her mother, and even if it was only for a minute, it gave her hope. She would get her bending back, no matter what the cost. And she would use it to make sure Korra defeated Amon and put a stop to all of this madness. She stood up and wiped her tearstained face.

'_Thank you mom.'_

'_You're welcome, my little badgermole.'_

**A/N: thanks for reading. I cried while I was writing this. Even now, I have this huge knot in my stomach. I hope you liked it. This is my excuse for not writing Avatar State. I sincerely hope it's a good one. Here's the link to the songs I promised you watch?v=gYibBBULEXk&feature=slpl this one is called hurt.** ** watch?v=MN4o_b2oZx0&feature=related this one is a cover of leaves from the vine which is supposed to be Toph singing to Lin. They are both sadness. :'(. **

**Anyway, leave a review. Tell me how I did. Even though this is completely angst, I needed some Toph humor when she was fighting Amon. Also, I know it's weird for them to come back from the dead and then on top of that, get their bending back, but Aang's the freaking avatar, there are probably a lot of powers that the creators didn't tell us about. Plus, this is fanfiction, and to make the story even sadder, I needed this. So no hating, please. Hate on everything else. Review!**


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